


Try To Remember

by Huntress79



Category: White Collar
Genre: Amnesia, Community: hc_bingo, Gen, Kidnapping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-13
Updated: 2015-10-20
Packaged: 2018-04-14 14:25:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4567887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huntress79/pseuds/Huntress79
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Days after Neal and Sara suddenly disappear, Peter finally has a solid lead. Unfortunately, what he finds there are more questions and a witness unable to answer any of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Questions And Answers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kanarek13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kanarek13/gifts).



> Written for the awesome artwork “Jane Doe” by the equally awesome kanarek13. Fills the “wild card” square on my H/C Bingo Card. Set in Season 3, after “Checkmate”, but with no Kramer in the picture and no commutation hearing for Neal. Unbetaed, so if you spot any grammatical errors or/and typos, please let me know!

[](http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/sandy79/26529227/29200/29200_900jpg)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Trinity Hospital_

_New York City_

The first thing she was aware of upon waking was the incessant hammering on the left side of her skull. She tried to come up with a reason for this pain, but was shocked when she found her brain completely empty, except for the most recent memories. What the heck was going on? Why couldn’t she remember anything?

“Oh, you’re awake.”

Though spoken in sotto voce, she startled upon hearing the words coming from the doorway. A young woman, dressed in light blue scrubs, stood there, watching her carefully before making her way over to the bed, her whole demeanor offering a sense of calmness and safety to the frightened woman lying there.

“Hi, my name is Jody,” she gestured to the nametag on her shirt, “and I’m your nurse.” She gave her latest patient a quick once-over. “Are you in any pain?”

“Yeah, my head is hurting like hell.” The two women locked gazes. “Sorry about my choice of words.”

Jody chuckled. “Don’t be. Believe me, I’ve heard much worse.” Seeing the confused look on the other woman’s face, the nurse decided to elaborate. “I’ve got three elder sisters. And all three of them are married to soldiers. So whenever I visit them and I don’t hear any of them cursing up a streak, I have to ask if anything is wrong.”

Despite having no reference to what the nurse was telling her, the redhead in the bed let out a chuckle, if only a short-lived one.

“Jody?”

“Yes, sweetie, what’s up?”

“Where am I?”

“Trinity Hospital, New York City”, Jody answered while fluffing up the spare pillow and exchanging it with the one on the bed.

“What happened to me?”

Sensing the confusion in the question, Jody changed her approach of the topic.

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Nothing.” The voice of her most recent Jane Doe was empty, dejected, void of any kind of emotion. Jody gave her arm a light touch, and the woman looked up, her eyes the exact opposite to her voice. “I can’t remember anything.” She took another deep breath. “Not even my name.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_FBI Building_

_White Collar Offices_

Like on any other day of the year, the bullpen was buzzing with activity. Well, most of the teams were just doing their usual workload, ranging from copyright infringement and mortgage fraud to forged documents and art theft – except for one.

Ever since the call from the U.S. Marshals about Neal’s anklet being cut came in ten days ago, Special Agent Peter Burke and the rest of his team were only working that case. Reese Hughes transferred any upcoming “normal” case to the other teams while helping Peter’s team in any possible capacity. Kyle Bancroft came up from Washington, also intent on helping them out, but to back up Peter against the Marshals, who wanted nothing more than to put Neal back on their “Most Wanted” list, proving this way that a convicted criminal couldn’t be changed, period.

At first, Peter was more than inclined to agree with them. Ever since the whole disaster with Adler and the submarine loot, things were more than a bit rough between them. Sure, the case ended with Keller behind bars and the loot back in some museums, but the base of the friendship between Peter and Neal was in frays, too damaged by distrust, deception and betrayal. So the chance of Neal running once again was more than just a theory.

But then, only two days after the Marshals, Peter got a worried call from Sara’s boss, one Winston Bosch. According to him, Sara was working one of her most important cases to date, and it wasn’t likely for her not to show up for work, not when she was so close to finalize it. Peter changed his opinion about Neal being on the run once again. At first, it might have looked just like a coincidence, but years of experience, coupled with knowing both Neal and Sara to a degree, had taught Peter otherwise. If these two went missing in the same timeframe, it was more than likely that they were together – either forced or on their own volition.

A soft knock on his office door brought Peter back to reality, and he looked up to see Diana standing in the doorway. Sure, every single agent was working their hardest to find Neal and Sara, including colleagues from other departments like Agent Ruiz from Organized Crime or Kimberly Rice from Missing Persons, but next to himself, Diana was a second driving force in the search. She didn’t give him any reasons, but apparently Caffrey’s charming ways had finally found a way behind her walls too.

“What’s up, Diana?”

“Trinity just called. Sara is awake.”

Diana barely had finished the sentence before Peter was out of his seat and almost out of the door. Three days ago, the hospital had called them that a woman matching Sara’s description was found in an alleyway near them, apparently beaten and drugged. Peter wasn’t so happy when the doctor told him that he had to put her in a medical induced sleep to help her body fight off the drugs in her system, while giving the physical wounds on her face time to heal as well, since Peter had trouble to recognize her beneath all the swelling when he first saw her. Now that she was awake, he hoped that with a little luck, they finally might get the answers they were so desperate to find.

“Peter…”

When Diana’s brain finally caught up with reality, her boss already was halfway through the bullpen, but he stopped dead in his tracks when he heard her voice.

“Yeah?”

“I… I come along. Maybe she will be more talkative when there’s a woman in the room too. We have no idea what she’s been through, so no offence, boss…”

“Okay,” Peter answered, holding the glass door open for her. Within the next minutes, the two agents were on their way to Trinity.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twenty minutes later, they were waiting in the hallway outside Sara’s room for Dr. Grant. Peter was eager to talk to Sara, but Head Nurse Meredith McClellan stopped them with the doctor’s order to have a talk to him first.

“Agent Burke, Agent…”

“Berrigan,” Diana said as an introduction as she and Dr. Grant shook hands.

“Dr. Grant, can we talk to her? Neal is still missing, and she might have the key to solving this case.”

The Chief of Neurology had led the two agents over to the family room in the meantime, and motioned now for them to have a seat.

“Agents, I’m afraid she might not be helpful at all.”

“How is that so, Dr. Grant?” Diana asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

“After she woke up this morning, we ran a range of tests on her. The drugs are mostly out of her system by now, but what worries me the most is the complete amnesia she has developed.”

“Meaning?” Unlike his colleague, Peter wasn’t even attempting to keep his emotions out of his voice. This time, frustration was added to the mix.

“Meaning that she doesn’t remember anything. And with “anything”, I mean anything. She doesn’t know the date, who’s currently sitting in the Oval Office, and most of all, she doesn’t even know her own name.”

Diana couldn’t help but gasp. She knew that victims of very violent crimes developed temporary amnesia to help their brain to come to terms with the crime itself, but what Dr. Grant just told them didn’t sound like that kind of amnesia at all.

“Is it temporary?” she asked.

“Honestly, I can’t tell that at the moment. She might regain her memories, or at least most of them, but that solely depends or her alone.”

“What do you know from experience?”

Peter asked the next question, and this time, all signs of frustration were gone from his voice, replaced by worry and hints of desperation.

“My experience won’t help us out here. Every amnesia case is different, and even when we have the same parameters, I can’t predict which way this case will go, not as a professional.”

“So what do you suggest? How should we approach her?”

In any other case, Dr. Grant would have chuckled upon having the two agents alternating in asking the questions. But he knew about the urgency and so kept his amusement to himself.

“First and foremost, be patient. When I talked to her this morning, she was trying desperately to answer my questions. If you put too much pressure on her, she might retreat so deep in her brain that we might not get her back anymore.”

Peter and Diana exchanged a look. Apparently, they had one hell of a rocky road ahead of them.

“Second, try to create a calm surrounding. If you go in there, demanding answers and being authoritative, you won’t get anything out of her.”

“But…”

“Agent Burke, have you ever experienced something like amnesia?” Dr. Grant could understand that they needed answers, stat, but he had to protect his patients in any way possible.

“No.”

“Then you don’t know what she’s feeling right now.” He paused, fixing Peter and Diana in their seats with his gaze. “She feels vulnerable. Not knowing who you are, the most basic things that define you, what you do for a living, if you have a bunch of friends or are a workaholic… I always compare that with walking down Fifth Avenue naked during rush hour.”

For several moments, the room was silent, as both agents tried to comprehend what the doctor told them. Then, Diana was the first to ask again.

“But we can talk to her?”

“Yes, you can. But I would like to have Nurse Jody in there with you. She was the first one to talk to Sara after she woke up, and they already have established kind of a connection.”

“I can work with that,” Peter said, the eagerness to talk to his most solid lead in the whole case back in his voice.

“Good, then I let the nurses’ station paging Jody to meet with you.”

With that, the doctor was out of the room, leaving two agents behind who didn’t really know what to think about the whole situation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another few minutes later, Peter and Diana finally were allowed into Sara’s room. Nurse Jody already was waiting for them, talking to Sara in a quiet voice.

“Agents Burke, Berrigan, I’m Nurse Jody Hemphill.”

“Dr. Grant told us you were the first to talk to Sara when she woke up?” Diana asked.

“Yes, and even though I’m working in this department for the last ten years, my heart always goes out when I see a case like hers.” She paused, taking a breath. “You should have seen her this morning. She was absolutely desperate and dejected by the fact that she couldn’t remember anything. She senses that something very bad has happened, but she can’t access the memories linked to it.”

“Has she mentioned anything?” Again, Diana asked the nurse.

“No, nothing at all. How well do you know her?” She looked from Peter to Diana.

“We worked several cases together, since our work fields overlap on more than one point. Just recently, Diana, Neal and she solved the case of a stolen Stradivari.”

“But she’s not an FBI agent?”

Jody was curious, of that was Peter sure, but he finally got what the doctor told them. They needed to work closely with the hospital staff if they wanted to get anything out of the maze that was Sara’s brain at the moment.

“No, she works for Sterling Bosch, the insurance company. And let me tell you that Sara is excellent in what she’s doing.”

“Agent Burke, you mean she was excellent?”

“No, I meant it exactly the way I said it. I know her to a certain degree, and this woman is, if nothing else, a fierce fighter. So I’m very sure that she will make a full recovery, no matter how long the way might be.”

Sensing that the nurse and the two new arrivals were talking about her, Sara looked up to them, an uncertain smile on her lips. Maybe they could help her uncover the mysteries surrounding her.

 

_TBC_


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara begins her road to recovery, with the help of Peter and Diana.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your lovely comments! Hope you like this chapter!

_Unknown location_

Beneath his cool demeanor, Neal Caffrey was seething. And not just for the fact that, once again, he fell victim to a kidnapping. Or for the fact that right in this moment, he was out of options of freeing himself, as he was not only locked in a cage, but also gagged, bound on his ankles and wrists, and, probably as a precaution, his wrists chained to a hook on the wall. No, what really got his blood boiling was the fact that whoever had their sights on him and staged the kidnapping had no qualms whatsoever to kidnap Sara as well. To make things worse, they obviously had the Taser on a real high setting when they had used it on her. Neal was no medical expert by far, but even he knew that something like that couldn’t be good for the human body. He hoped that Sara was already in a hospital. When his kidnappers decided to get rid of her, he convinced them to dump her in the alley, which he knew was a place where NYPD found junkies on a regular basis. Before working on yet another escape plan, which was more for keeping his mind busy than for anything else, he sent a prayer up to the skies that Peter and his team were the one to work their case. If not for him, than at least for Sara’s sake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Trinity Hospital_

_Sara’s room_

Picking mindlessly on a thread on the blanket, Sara waited for any of the three other people in the room to come over to her. Obviously, the man and the woman in the suits wanted something from her, if the somewhat animated talk with her nurse was anything to go by. For a few minutes, the doctor who ran the tests on her earlier that day also stopped by, but he was gone as quick as he had come.

Peter and Diana tried to get Jody to agree to one of them telling Sara her name. Jody reasoned that it was better for the patient and his recovery to find out everything on its own speed, but Peter told her that, while he could understand her reasoning, they simply didn’t have the time to wait for Sara. Both he and Diana stressed that Neal was out there, for almost two weeks now, and that time was of the essence. Reluctantly (and backed up by Dr. Grant), Jody finally agreed that they could tell her the name, but nothing else, at least not for the time being, since it might be too overwhelming for Sara.

“Hey there.”

Sara looked up to see the Afro-American woman approaching her. Her whole body language spoke of a “shoot first, ask questions later” character, but she tried her best to keep Sara at the calm, collected level she was ever since she woke up.

“Hi.”

The woman sat down on the plastic chair next to the bed and grabbed Sara’s hand.

“Hi, my name is Diana Berrigan. My partner,” she motioned over to where Peter was standing, “and I are with the FBI.” She pulled the badge from her belt, holding it up for Sara to check it. “And we would like to talk to you about what landed you here in the hospital.”

“Well, I have to disappoint you, but I don’t know anything. Not even my own name.” She looked to Diana. “Do you have any idea how frustrating that is?”

“No, I don’t and I can’t even begin to comprehend what you are going through at the moment.” To emphasize her words, Diana squeezed Sara’s hand ever so slightly, just enough for her to feel it. “But I think I can take some of that frustration away from you.”

“How?”

Sara was confused. Was that woman some kind of a magician?

“I can tell you your name.”

“How do you know my name?”

Again, confusion spread like wildfire within Sara. How did this woman happen to know her name? Did they know each other?

“Diana knows your name because you and I and her and the rest of my team have worked together in the past”, the man said from his position at the end of her bed.

“Caution, sir. Remember what we talked about before,” Jody interrupted from her spot in the far edge of the room.

“I know, Jody, I know,” Peter retorted.

“We worked together? How? What do I do for a living?”

Without her noticing, Sara grew more and more agitated by the second, and Diana saw from the corner of her eyes that Jody was already preparing a syringe with some kind of tranquilizer.

“Hey, hey.” She increased the pressure on Sara’s hand, grabbing it with both of hers. “Look at me.” Sara complied, locking her gaze with Diana’s. “Okay, calm down. Deep breaths.” She started to show Sara what she meant. “In. Out. In. Out.” Surprisingly enough, Sara followed her example, and in a matter of seconds, both her breathing and her whole demeanor were back to the rather calm one from before.

“Sorry.” Sara looked up and round at all the other in the room.

“Don’t be,” Peter said as calm as he could muster, his eyes never leaving Sara. If not before, his heart was completely going out to the young woman now. She did well under these circumstances and for the first time since he got the new that she was found in the alley, he wished he didn’t have to put her through the questioning.

“Let’s try again, okay?”

Diana brought both Peter and Sara from their respective reveries back to reality.

“Try what?” Sara asked in a small voice.

“Me telling you your name.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Good.” Diana locked her gaze with Sara, hoping that her eyes would do an excellent job at assisting her in the following task. “Your name is Sara Ellis.”

Sara repeated the name over and over again in her mind, and after several times she started to like it. Yes, this was a name she could live with. So, next question: Who was Sara Ellis?

“Am I a good person?”

She smiled upon seeing both Peter and Diana slightly jumping at her question. Apparently, this Sara could do a number or two on other people, if she wanted to do so.

“Yes, you are,” Peter answered, for the first time since he entered the room a smile gracing his features.

“How do you know that? I mean, you are working for the FBI. What if I’m a horrible person and you captured me before?”

“No, you’re not. Yes, Diana and I are working for the FBI, and while we capture a lot of bad boys and girls on the job, we like to work with specialists from time to time.”

“And you are one of these specialists,” Diana added.

Sara remained silent, trying to comprehend everything she had learned in the last few minutes. It looked like she was pretty successful with whatever she did for a living. Otherwise, the FBI wouldn’t ask her to work with them.

“Okay, then. Can you explain why I ended up here?”

Sara directed her question at no one in detail. She just hoped that any of the others in here would be able to shine some light on the big dark area in her brain.

“You were found almost four days ago, in an alley not far from here.”

To her surprise, none of the agents answered. Instead, Jody sat down on the second plastic chair by her bed, mirroring Diana’s posture.

“How did I end up there?”

“We don’t know, Sara.” Peter answered this time, and Sara could read some kind of desperation in his eyes. Apparently, her story was just part of a much bigger picture. “But we hoped you could answer that for us.”

“Sorry to be such a failure,” Sara said with a shrug. Somewhere deep down, she knew instinctively that the “old” Sara didn’t like to fail, no matter what field.

“You are not a failure,” Diana said with as much determination as she could muster in her voice. “You didn’t choose to lose your memory, did you?” Sara shook her head no.

“But I want to help you.” Sara looked from Diana to Peter and back. “I somehow know that you wouldn’t be here if there was another way to get the goal you’re after, whatever it is.” She paused, and to her surprise, she saw both agents nodding slightly. “What I don’t know is how I can achieve anything that might help you without my memories.” This time, she looked over at Jody, but the nurse only could hold her gaze.

Peter was about to say anything when his phone started to vibrate. Muttering an excuse, he made his way out of the room and went further down the hallway, in the direction of the family room.

“Jones, what’s up?”

“Peter, we have a problem.” Peter heard him shuffling some papers. “Better make that some problems.”

“Please tell me that Keller is still where he should be.”

“Yeah, our favorite nemesis is still in the same place. Which both Bryan McKenzie and Henry Van Horn are not.” Again, the sound of papers being shuffled filled the line, giving Peter time to search his brain for a connection to the two names. While the name Bryan McKenzie didn’t ring any bell, Henry Van Horn brought up some quite bad memories. He was responsible for kidnapping an old Navy buddy of Jones and he nearly succeeded in killing Neal, who was undercover in his enterprise, with a high-tech bow and arrow. The last thing Peter knew that Van Horn was waiting for his trial in the high-security ward in Rikers.

“What happened?” Peter asked.

“Simple as that: they used a shuffle in the main yard at Rikers as distraction and escaped.” Sensing that Peter was about to ask more, Jones added. “NYPD is already over there, trying to shine some light onto that. Hughes has sent two agents there as well. Someone was helping them, and they also kept quiet about it for almost two weeks.”

“What?”

Peter must have said that louder than he thought, since one of the nurses gave him a look of disapproval while she passed him. He mouthed “Sorry” before turning all his attention back to his agent on the phone.

“Yeah. Rikers has kind of a log system for their inmates, and the last entry is dated two days before Neal and Sara disappeared. Not a coincidence, if you ask me.”

“No, not at all.” Peter took a breath. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did. “I remember Van Horn from the case of your Navy buddy, but I can’t place the other name. You sure he’s linked to any of our cases?”

“Oh, he definitely is. Bryan McKenzie was the culprit in the case of the missing Stradivari. Neal and Diana worked the case with Sara, so Diana should know more about than I do.”

“Okay, I will talk to her. Any other news?”

“Sorry, Peter. But we keep digging. Agent Roe is here as well, and he has commandeered access to military technologies for us. Whatever we need, he gets it for us.”

“Good to know. Keep me updated.”

Peter was about to hang up when Jones started to speak again.

“One more thing, Peter. I’m trying to get a hold of one of the psychologists over at Annapolis. They have several working there who are specialized in uncovering information. Sounds weird, but they just have special techniques to get the soldiers using more of their brain matter and access areas of the memory that we normally don’t go to.” Jones paused. “And a good friend of mine, who works with victims of crime, told me that Sara should try it with some kind of meditation. I can have him come over to Trinity’s and give it a try, but only if Sara wants to. How she’s doing so far?”

“Not good, Jones, not at all. She has technically lost all of her memories. Diana and I had to tell her her own name.” Peter paused. “But you know what? Tell this friend of yours to meet me here. Maybe we can come up with some strategy.”

“Will do.”

Before Peter had any chance to say something more, Jones had hung up on him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Peter came back to Sara’s room, he noticed that Jody was gone – and that Diana and Sara were talking to each other like old friends. He also noticed that Diana tried to keep their talk as common as possible, talking mainly about the latest trends in various fields.

“Is everything okay?”

Peter was quite surprised to hear that question coming from Sara. He would have expected Diana to ask it, not the woman with whom nothing was okay.

“Yeah, Sara, it is. But I would like to borrow Diana for a second.”

“Sure…” He could almost see the wheels in her head turning, searching for his name. “I’m sorry.”

Sara buried her face in her hands, trying to hide the desperation and frustration from everyone. Peter stepped closer and pulled the hands away.

“Hey, hey.” When she didn’t look up, he put a finger under her chin, tilting her head back until Sara had to look into his eyes. “It’s okay. You can’t remember my name.” Sara furrowed her brows, showing openly her confusion. “We never said it before.” Peter stuck his hand out in introduction. "Hi, Sara, I’m Peter Burke.”

Within seconds after hearing the name, Sara’s eyes went wide. Peter took a step back, unsure on why Sara showed this kind of reaction and on what might happen next. He heard Diana leaving the room, obviously in search for a doctor or a nurse.

Sara didn’t get anything of what was going on around her. As if the name “Peter Burke” was a code word of sorts, one of the dams her brain had built up broke and let out a flood of images. Images that she only could watch, but she didn’t get the meaning behind any of them. She saw herself, dressed in an elegant green dress. She saw a short man, with a round face and glasses. A nice looking woman, apparently a bit older than herself, with dark brown hair and kind eyes. Another woman, this time an older one, with an air of international flair to her. But the person, the face, she saw the most in these “flashes” was that of a man with dark brown, wavy hair and a pair of striking blue eyes. Who were them all? And what did they mean to her? Was that part of her family? And why did she get the feeling that something had happened to one of them?

“Sara! Sara!”

At some point, the worried voices of Peter, Diana and Jody reached her through the haze the images had created in her head. She looked up to them, but somehow the images blurred over their faces.

“Here, have some water.”

Diana’s voice came through, and Sara more felt than saw the glass of water she had handed her. Apparently she had made some pain-laced sounds without noticing them. She took a sip, but even the water felt somewhat strange on her tongue, just as if her taste buds were prepared for something else, something stronger than water.

“You’re back with us?”

This time, Jody spoke to her, but Sara couldn’t answer her. Which was more due to the confusion these images had created than to anything else. In sips, she finished the whole glass, all the while Diana and Jody rubbed her arms and thighs in a reassuring, calming manner, while Peter kept vigil at the end of her bed.

“Peter?” Sara winced internally, her voice sounded like raw paper.

“Yeah, Sara, what do you need?”

Peter came closer, sitting down on the edge of the bed next to Diana. Sara grabbed his left hand, holding it up so everyone could see the wedding ring.

“You are married, right? Do you have a picture of your wife with you?”

“Yes, I am, and yes, I have one here.” He pulled out his phone, and Sara could see that he was scrolling through something. After some moments, he turned the display over to her, showing a picture of him with the one woman she saw in the flashes.

“Oh my God.”

“What? What is it?”

“I… I remember her. I don’t know her name, but when you told me yours, it was like a dam broke in my mind. I can feel that there are more of them, but she was one of the people I saw in the “flashes”.”

Sara looked up at Peter, trying to gauge his reaction. And for a fleeting second, she could detect some kind of hope flitting over his features before the neutral expression she already associated with him took over again.

“Can you describe any of the other people you saw?”

“I can try, Peter, I can try,” Sara said in a small voice. Part of her was triumphant for reaching such a goal, but the better part of her was still frustrated at the lack of memories and details connected to the faces she saw.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Peter and Diana returned to the office later that afternoon, they both could see a very small sliver of hope on the horizon. Over the course of the last few hours, Sara managed, though somewhat slowly, to identify Neal as one of the faces from her “flashes”, as well as Mozzie and June. They didn’t tell her any names, since Dr. Grant didn’t want to risk any more dams breaking in her brain. Sara also told them that she knew somehow that there was more to every single one of those faces, but she couldn’t connect the dots, so to speak. Peter added “yet” to the sentence in his mind; he was more than convinced that Sara would be able to completely restore her memories. What he wasn’t so sure about was if Neal had that much time, and so he sent a small prayer up to give his friend and partner the strength to keep holding on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Coming soon: Sara makes more progress, the Harvard Crew can rule out some suspects, some new names pop up, and Neal is running out of time._


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter, Sara and the team get help from two remarkable women, while Neal tries to stay positive at the hands of his kidnappers.

_Unknown location_

 

“Rise and shine, Caffrey!”

Neal jerked awake and rolled his shoulders. But when your hands and arms are as restricted as his were, getting the kinks out of the joints and muscles quickly turned into an almost impossible task. He saw one of his captors approaching the cage. While he spent most of the time in this prison, Neal was taken out for certain times. Whoever had kidnapped him gave him bread and water, let him use the toilet right around the corner of the “cage room”. And they brought him for some hours every day to yet another room, where they forced him to create a wide range of forged documents. Try as he might, Neal couldn’t remember all the details on them. But maybe that was more due to the constant presence of a gun barrel in his neck than to his loss of orientation and time or anything else.

After getting his “daily dose of humanity”, as Neal dubbed his morning stint in the bathroom, he was led to the forging room. The other kidnapper was standing at the small end of the room, and judging by his body language, he wasn’t happy at all. Before Neal had a chance to react, the man walked into his personal space and backhanded him across the face. The effect left him reeling, and so Neal wasn’t at least prepared for the man grabbing him by the hair and yanking his head up to eye-level.

“You knew it!”

“Knew what?”

If anything, they didn’t succeed in breaking the stubborn streak in Neal. Knowing that they probably will kill him anyway, as soon as his work was done, he decided early into his imprisonment that he wouldn’t go down without a fight.

“That they would find her.” Deep down, Neal let out a whoop of joy. Sara was safe, and probably helping NYPD and FBI in locating him right now. “You knew that when you convinced us of dumping her there!”

Once again, the man punched him, this time in the gut, but Neal couldn’t care less about it. He knew that, sooner or later, the life of a criminal would get the better of him. He only hoped that Peter, Elizabeth and all the other people he had come to love and consider his family were safe too.

“And if I did?” Neal challenged the man.

“She’s in the hospital now, and I saw Burke walking into the same hospital. Wanna guess what he’s doing there?”

Neal didn’t answer. Instead, he opted for sitting down at the table, and without being told to do so, picked up the tools to create yet another false document. He only had to hold on for some more time. Peter and his team were on the way, and that was the only thing that kept Neal going.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Trinity Hospital_

_Sara’s room_

When she woke, Sara was somehow glad that the night was over. Despite of what she had let on to the night nurses, her sleep was far from restful. Quite contrary, the images she had seen the better part of yesterday came back to her, and she was more and more convinced that the man with the wonderful blue eyes was (a) more than just a colleague or an acquaintance to her and (b) that he was somehow linked to her being in the hospital.

A young nurse – “Ellie” according to her name tag – came in and told Sara that they would have to change the linens on her bed. Not having enough faith in her legs to hold her up, Sara opted for the wheelchair, if only for the short distances to the bathroom and the table. Ellie and another nurse made quick work of the bed, then the second nurse brought some breakfast, while Ellie offered Sara to help her if she wanted to take a shower afterwards.

A few hours later, Peter came by, this time accompanied by a young Afro-American man and an exuberant blonde woman. The two newcomers stopped at some distance to her bed, while Peter came closer and put a small brown bag right in front of her.

“What’s that?”

“Have a look.” Sara did as told, and revealed a small box sitting inside the bag, emitting an incredible delicious smell. She looked up to see all three of her visitors smiling. “A little treat, with best wishes from my wife.”

“Your wife can cook?”

From the corner of her eyes, Sara saw the new faces smiling at each other; apparently her expression was one from the funnier pages.

“Yeah, and she also knows the best places to get everything she can’t or doesn’t have the time to make on her own.”

While listening to Peter, Sara noticed the logo on the side of the bag. “The Greatest Cake” was written across the lower part, in a somewhat old-fashioned way, and somehow Sara knew that this shop was familiar to her too. But once again, she came up with nothing.

“So, how was your night?”

Peter’s question brought her out of her reverie, and she leaned closer to him, as if she didn’t want anyone to hear what she had to say.

“Not quite as good as I let on to the night nurses.” Peter’s answer was a raised eyebrow. “I didn’t want them all to worry about me. And I absolutely didn’t want the room crowded at night.”

Peter nodded, understanding that she didn’t want to be fussed about all the time. Especially when her brain was in the lengthy process of restoring itself.

“But you got some sleep, right?”

“Yeah, but it was interrupted by the images I saw in the afternoon.” Sara only saw now that Peter was holding a file in his hands. “And I feel that the man with the blue eyes is somewhat linked to me being here.”

Once again, Peter nodded, before motioning the two new faces over to her bed.

“Sara, I would like you to meet Agent Clinton Jones,” he indicated the young man, who shook Sara’s hand, “and a good friend of his, Ms. Penelope Garcia.” The woman also shook Sara’s hand.

“Next to her work as a technical analyst with the FBI in Quantico, Penelope does a lot of voluntary work with victims of crimes and their families. She knows some techniques that might help your brain.”

“What kind of techniques?”

Sara didn’t want to appear suspicious, but she absolutely had no idea of what this woman could do to help her.

“Nothing too fancy, pumpkin.” Penelope sat down on Sara’s left side, grabbing her hand. “Just some breathing techniques that help you focus. You know, the memories are still in there,” she touched the side of her own head, “but unfortunately, there’s a lot of rubble covering them. With the techniques I’m going to teach you, we might stand a chance to unbury them without causing your brain, which is still healing, too much trouble.”

“So Sara, what do you say? Worth giving it a try?”

Unnoticed to her, Dr. Grant had come into the room as well and was now standing next to Jones.

“I had a talk with Penelope before she came in here, and from my professional point of view I completely agree with these techniques.”

“So, no risk of overwhelming her at all?” Peter asked, her reaction to the images yesterday still fresh in his mind.

“Sure, there is a small percentage of it happening again, but that’s the general nature of amnesia. No matter how severe it is, most patients link the restoration of their memories with a sense of overwhelming.” He looked around the room and was met with four somewhat confused expressions. “You see, memories don’t restore themselves one by one. They usually come back in waves, and like the ones we know from the beach, these waves can knock us out of balance.”

As if on command, four pairs of eyes focused on Sara, waiting for her to decide.

“Well, I guess it can’t get any worse than it is already.” She looked from Dr. Grant to Penelope. “Okay, let’s give it a try.”

Seconds later, Dr. Grant was out of the room again, leaving them to their own devices. Sara saw Jones retrieving a large bag by the door (which she only noticed right now) and carrying it over to the small table. To Sara’s surprise, the content consisted of several large candles, as well as some scented sticks, a large plaid and some cushions. Sensing Sara’s growing curiosity, Penelope turned around.

“We need to create a different atmosphere in here. If we keep it the way it is now, we won’t get anywhere.” She got closer to Sara, still a broad smile on her face. “You know, hospital rooms are not very helpful when it comes to relaxing.” Penelope winked at her, and before Sara knew it, the bubbly blonde was back at Jones’ side.

“Sara?”

She was watching Jones and Garcia so intently that Peter’s voice registered in her mind with some delay.

“Oh.” Peter answered with a small smile. “Something wrong, Peter?”

“No, not at all. I just wanted to let you know that you will be alone with Jones and Penelope for some time. I have to follow a lead.”

“And this lead has something to do with me?” It came out as a question, but Sara intended it to sound more like a statement.

“Probably.”

She gestured at the door.

“Well, then by all means. Go and catch the bad guys.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter was barely outside the main entrance of the hospital when his phone rang. Seeing the name of his wife flashing across the screen, he only could wonder as to why Elizabeth was ringing him now.

“Hon, what’s up?”

“Hey, Hon, would it be too much for you to come back home?”

“El, is everything alright?”

“Yeah.” He heard some background noise, but that definitely didn’t sound like Satchmo. “Mozzie is here. He just got back from Detroit, and he is absolutely devastated. I don’t know why, but somehow he thinks that Neal got kidnapped because of him.”

“What?” Peter shook his head. Once again, the short guy managed to surprise him.

“Yeah, it’s crazy to even think about it, but you know Mozzie. Once he got something on his mind, it’s hard to detour him.” Once again, background noise was heard, this time the teapot. “Anyway, he said as soon as he heard about Neal’s disappearance, he contacted someone who might get information you and your team won’t get.”

“Did he say who he contacted?” Peter had a hunch, his mind wandering back to a case he and Neal solved several months ago.

“No, and he won’t say the name to anyone else than you.”

Peter looked at his wristwatch. Right before he came to the hospital, Diana called him and told him that they finally got the track data from Neal’s anklet. And while a part of him was more than a bit anxious to have a look at them, the better part didn’t want to have to look after Mozzie too, in case the man tried anything stupid to spring Neal free.

“Alright, I swing by. But tell him that I will arrest him if he just wants to spin yet another conspiracy theory.”

“Don’t worry, Hon. I think conspiracy theories are not exactly at the front of his mind right now.” She made a pause. “We both know that Neal and Mozzie are very talented actors if they needed to be, but Moz’s really worried about Neal.”

And that was something that Peter absolutely could relate to. Not long ago, Keller had kidnapped Elizabeth, causing the rift between Peter and Neal to deepen even further.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Burke Residence_

_DeKalb Avenue, Brooklyn_

 

When Peter Burke pulled up to his house some time later, his worry about Neal’s welfare had more and more turned into fear. During the drive from Trinity Hospital to Brooklyn, Diana had called him again, telling him that something was afoot with the data from Neal’s tracking anklet. She already had one of the FBI technicians working on it, and had voiced her concern to Hughes, Bancroft and Roe, but until they had solid proof, they couldn’t do anything. Was it possible that one of the U.S. Marshals was part of the kidnapping, in whatever capacity?

Peter took a deep breath before entering his house. If anything, he didn’t want to raise the already high levels of worry in his wife. And if Mozzie got a whiff of his own fear for Neal… well, they definitely would go into uncharted waters.

“Hey, Hon!”

As on any other day, Elizabeth came from the general direction of the kitchen, welcoming him home with a kiss.

“Hey. Did I miss him?”

“No, he’s out in the back.”

Peter started to head out on the patio, only to be stopped by his wife.

“What?”

“(A) He’s not alone out there, and I’m not talking about Satchmo keeping him company.” Peter raised an eyebrow, urging Elizabeth to continue. “And (B): You have to tread very carefully, if you want to get anything out of him.” Again, her words were met with a raised eyebrow. “Hon, whenever you’re in ʻinvestigator’ mode, you tend to forget that witnesses and culprits are first and foremost human beings. You mean well and you want to get your answers as soon as possible, but you tend to turn into a caveman.” She met his eyes, her emotions running wild. “Sorry, Hon, but I had to tell you that.”

“It’s okay, Hon, you’re not the first one to mention it. Both Neal and Diana have pointed it out to me, but I chose to ignore it.” He pulled her close, planting a kiss on the top of her head before pulling back and catching her eyes with his. “You know what? We both have a talk to Mozzie and his friend, and you watch out for me and catch me before I go ʻcavemanʻ on them, okay?”

“Okay.”

They both stepped outside, and Peter was in for yet another surprise (though he somewhat was prepared for that one).

“Suit, nice of you to join us.” Mozzie stepped aside and revealed his companion. “I think you remember Sally.”

The woman waved at Peter. “Hi, Agent Burke.”

“I should have known that you kept contact with her.” Peter tried to sound exasperated, but deep down he was glad that Mozzie had kept her on speed dial, so to speak. “Well, you told my wife that you have some infos for me.”

Before Mozzie or Sally could answer, Elizabeth tapped Peter on the arm.

“Hon, let’s sit down first, okay?”

Which she did immediately, pulling him down with her on the two remaining chairs on the patio. Sally opened her messenger bag in the meantime, pulling her tablet out. With a few finger tips to the screen, she had the information she wanted to show Peter at the ready.

“Agent Burke, before I show you the information I found, let me ask you a question.” Peter nodded. “Do you trust the U.S. Marshals?”

“Of course he trusts them…” Mozzie started to rant, but Sally stopped him with a hand on his arm.

“Mozzie, I asked him. And if I remember correctly, he can speak for himself.”

“Thank you, Sally. To answer your question: I only trust them as far as I can see them, so to speak. We already had the misfortune to work with a corrupt Marshal, resulting in me being on the run.” Sally’s answer consisted only of a raised eyebrow, while both Elizabeth and Mozzie had a smile on their faces, remembering the case. “And it wasn’t as funny as those smiles,” Peter pointed from Mozzie to Elizabeth, “let on. To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t more than one occasion of foul play with them.”

Sally turned the tablet around, holding it up for both Peter and Elizabeth to see the graphics on the screen.

“I have no idea what this should show us, but there’s definitely a difference between the one on the right and the one on the left side,” Elizabeth pointed out.

“Very good, Mrs. Suit,” Mozzie said with a smile. “Which doesn’t surprise me. You are a very perceptive woman, and you picked up a thing or two from your husband.”

Peter only heard the compliments for his wife with one ear. His mind was focused on the data on the screen, which he recognized as the tracking data from Neal’s anklet. And boy, there was something bigger going on, if the huge difference between the official and the real version was anything to go by.

“What do you think does that mean?” Sally’s question, paired with the worried stares of both El and Mozzie, brought Peter back to reality.

“I’m not sure, but I think we have a mole with the Marshals. Or one of them is part of Neal and Sara’s kidnapping.”

“Ms. Ellis has been kidnapped too?” Mozzie asked, incredulity prominent in his voice. Apparently, Elizabeth hadn’t told him about it.

“Yeah, but they dumped her in an alley.” Peter finally looked up from the screen to Neal’s best friend. “She’s at Trinity’s right now, trying to recover from amnesia.”

“Amnesia? So she can’t help us find Neal?” Mozzie’s voice now had an edge of defeat, and Peter was sure he hadn’t seen the short man so dejected before.

“She’s working hard on regaining her memories, so she might be helpful after all. The rest of us only can hope that she will manage that before Neal’s time run out.”

“If he’s still alive,” Mozzie huffed, before sinking back in his seat. “He was afraid that something like that might happen, sooner or later.”

“What?” Both Elizabeth and Peter asked, and on any other day, Mozzie might have smiled about the involuntary comic of the situation. But not today.

“Yeah. After the whole U-Boat loot disaster, he and I were sitting on his patio, sipping some wine, when all of a sudden he told me that he considered several people, including, you, Elizabeth, Sara, June and me, as his family. And that his biggest fear was that something was happening to any one of us.” He heaved a sigh. “At that time, I blamed it on the recent altercation we all had with Keller, but now I can’t help but think that Neal felt something bigger was about to happen.”

Elizabeth reached over the table, grabbing Mozzie’s hands with both of hers. “Moz, you have a lot of talents, but mind-reading is, thank God, not one of them. So how should you know better? Or know what Neal was exactly thinking while saying these words?”

“Yeah, but I know him better than he himself does at times. I should have been able to read between the lines.” Mozzie looked up from Elizabeth to Peter. “But part of me was still so angry at him for keeping me in the loop about the freight list that it blocked everything else.”

“Mozzie, there’s no use to cry over spilt milk, especially not now.” Peter tried to put every ounce of optimism into his words. He didn’t need the short man going straight into a depression. “Sally, I take it you have more data than just that.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement.

“I do, Agent Burke, and while I’m willing to share them with selected FBI personnel, I will not tell you or any other agent how I got them in the first place.”

“I’m not asking you to do that…”

He didn’t get any further, since his mobile decided to interrupt him once again.

“Burke?”

“Agent Burke? Penelope Garcia is speaking.”

Peter pulled the phone away, chancing a second look on the display. The discrepancy between the name on the screen and the actual speaker sent his eyebrows skyrocketing.

“Penelope, why do you have Jones’ phone?”

“Burke, you better come back to Trinity. We have a big problem.”

Before he could say anything else, the bubbly blonde friend of Jones hung up on him. Peter noticed in her voice that something had happened in the short time since he left.

“Mozzie, you still have one of your safe houses?”

“You know that I have more than one.” Peter only sent him a challenging look. “But yes, one of them is available.”

“What’s wrong, Hon?” Elizabeth asked, worry lacing her voice.

“Something has happened at Trinity’s. I head back over there, while you get Satchmo and accompany Sally and Mozzie to his safe house. I bet it has something to do with the discrepancy in the data of Neal’s anklet.” Peter got up, ready to leave the house. “I can’t risk having any of you attacked.” He gave her a kiss on the head before looking over to Mozzie. “I count on you, Mozzie. Keep her safe. And get me more about the tracking data.”

“Suit, you can count on me,” Mozzie answered, and Peter was sure that the man never had sounded so sincere before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Coming soon: The team finally can nail down names for the culprits, Sara learns about her rocky relationship with Neal – and something is found in the Hudson._


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter learns the identity of the shooter, Sara that of the handsome man in her initial vision - and Neal seems to run out of time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First things first: I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting so long for a new chapter in this story, but I have good news: (a) my computer finally complies to me and (b) the story is almost finished! XD Enjoy this chapter, which turned out a bit longer!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Trinity Hospital_

For the second time that day, Peter Burke entered the hospital. Only this time, the lobby and the adjoining Emergency Room was technically deserted, only a few people were sitting around. And even they turned out to be FBI agents in disguise. What the heck had happened?

“Agent Burke!”

Peter looked up to see Dr. Grant approaching him, worry etched deep into his features.

“Dr. Grant, care to share what has happened?”

The two men shook hands before Dr. Grant turned on the heel and started to head back to the Neurological Ward, Peter following closely.

“Honestly? I have no idea.” They entered the elevator. “You barely had left when Jody paged me back. When I came back, a man was standing outside Sara’s room, claiming that he was with the U.S. Marshals and that they would take her to a safe house.”

“But she’s still here?”

“Of course. I told the man that (a) Sara wasn’t in any condition to travel and that (b) I would have to clarify it with you.”

Peter motioned to the blood on the white coat.

“I take it he didn’t take it nicely that you said no?”

“You could say so.” Dr. Grant noticed the worried look on Peter’s face. “Some people are hurt, but none too bad. Thanks to your agent, by the way. He shot the man before he could do any serious harm.”

“Is the man still alive?”

“Unfortunately yes, if I might say.” They stepped out of the elevator. “Don’t get me wrong, Agent Burke, but with some folks, I prefer them lying cold and dead down in the morgue than anything else.”

Peter only nodded, his mind wheeling with all the new information. If Neal’s kidnappers were willing to kill Sara, despite her amnesia, what did that mean for Neal? Was he even still alive? Was time running out on him?

The two men turned the corner, and amidst the colorful chaos of various shades of blue scrubs, white lab coats and blood stains, Peter spotted Penelope almost immediately. She was sitting on one of the hallway chairs, trying to make herself as small as possible for the crime scene unit.

“Penelope!”

She looked up, and before Peter knew it, she was by his side, hooking her arm with his.

“Thank God you’re here!”

“What about Jones? Where is he?”

“Your agent is in OR 2,” one of the nurses said in passing, shock still evident on her face. She stopped and looked up to Peter. “He probably saved all our lives.”

Sensing that Peter wanted to get more details, Penelope pulled him over to the family room, where she sat them down on the couch.

“Penelope, what exactly happened?”

“I don’t know everything, but what I got was that the assailant wanted to take Sara to someplace else, which the doctor denied. And then, all hell broke loose. Clint just ordered me to take cover with Sara, then he was out in the hallway, and all we heard were the shots ringing out. Then it was totally quiet for some time, before one of the nurses came in and told us that both men were down.”

“How did Sara take this all?”

“She was shocked of course, but I think that somehow that triggered another breach in the dyke. She didn’t say a word, but her eyes showed some kind of recognition.”

“What about you? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. You probably don’t know that, but several years ago I got shot by a man I was dating and who turned out to be a psychopathic killer. One of my teammates shot him dead, right in the head.”

They sat silent for several minutes, both of them lost in their own thoughts, before a nurse approached them and told Peter that his agent was out of the OR and that the injury was half as bad as it initially had looked. She offered him to take them to him, but Peter denied. Instead, he sent Penelope to Jones. He knew his agent well enough to know that the man would give their colleagues a very detailed report of the events.

Penelope barely had left the room, when a young doctor came in, introducing herself as Dr. Browning. She had operated on the assailant, as she told Peter. The man was, for the moment, out of the woods, so to speak, though Jones had got him nicely in the upper body. Apparently, she didn’t know any details about Sara’s case, but she knew that Peter probably wanted to talk to the man. Peter only could affirm that. The man was the best lead to solving the case, and most of all, bringing Neal finally back to them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Unknown location_

Ever since he was brought into the room that morning, Neal was diligently working on the forgeries. At this point, he didn’t even care for details on the papers, not anymore. Instead, he opted for shifting his attention on the two kidnappers. If Peter really managed to free him (which he hoped would happen better sooner than later), he wanted to give him as much details as possible, in case the two men decided to flee.

Neal knew that both men were familiar to him. If nothing else, the fact that they were constantly wearing black masks when they were around him was a dead giveaway. Which prompted the next question: Did he know them from his time as a full-time con man, or did he get on their radar in his job as CI for Peter? And was he the main target or just a pawn in a game meant for Peter?

From what he could tell, the smaller man was the more collected one of the two, if only by a thin line. Sure, he had read a lot of FBI-related books since he started working for Peter, and he knew that they might as well play a game with him. One of them was acting as the brutal one, the other acted as if Neal was still a human being. Right now, it didn’t matter to Neal if it was genuine or just an act, this was the only way to tell them apart. The smaller man was the one to bring him food and water, and if he remembered correctly, the first one to agree to his suggestion of Sara’s dumping location.

Suddenly, while he was still playing that last fact around is his head, Neal had kind of an inspiration. He DID know the smaller man. Since this guy obviously cared for Sara, judging by how quick he agreed to Neal’s suggestion, it only could be Bryan McKenzie. But the last thing Neal knew about the guy was that he waiting for his trial at the prison over in Rikers. Why on God’s green Earth was he free? And why was Bryan targeting Neal now?

Neal’s train of thought was interrupted by the second kidnapper, who entered the room, displaying all kinds of anger right, left and center. Having learned his lesson over the last few days, Neal didn’t stop what he was doing, while trying to pay attention to anything the man might say. He didn’t have to wait for long.

“He has failed,” the taller man said.

“What?” the other answered with incredulity lacing his voice.

“Yeah, he got shot, and for all we know, Burke is questioning him right now.”

“Damn it!” the smaller man exclaimed, punching the wall on Neal’s right side for emphasis, and for a few fleeting seconds, Neal thought the two of them had swapped personalities.

The next few minutes were spent with the two kidnappers discussing various strategies, while Neal tried to finish his latest forgery and listen to their heated talk simultaneously. It ended with the smaller man leaving the room, while the taller waited for Neal to finish before punching him repeatedly between the shoulder blades and the upper part of his spine. The pain was excruciating, but the stubborn part of Neal didn’t give the man the satisfaction of screaming out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Trinity Hospital_

_Sara’s new room_

After the tragic turn of events earlier that day, Sara was transferred to another room, where the FBI could post more guards outside without disturbing the daily work in a hospital too much. She couldn’t care less about it. And yes, she was of course shocked by the attempted assassination and the displayed violence.

As soon as she was settled in the new room, Jody offered her a sleeping pill, which Sara took gratefully. Her mind was wheeling, even more since the shooting, and she couldn’t quite shake the feeling that the man had come to the hospital with the intention to kill her, not to take her to a safer place. With her thoughts still swirling around that, she finally fell asleep.

_She is lying in a bed. It’s night, and the light of a streetlamp is breaching the darkness in the room. Suddenly, she hears someone coming into the apartment. Whoever it is, the person tries to be as quiet as possible, but the panels in the lobby give him or her away nonetheless._

_Sara’s hand wanders over to her night desk. She grabs the gun that’s lying there, prepares herself for a confrontation with the intruder. After a few heartbeats, she hears the door to the bedroom opening. She doesn’t wait for the intruder to come closer, she leaps out of the bed and draws the gun._

_The intruder takes one step forward, and to her big surprise, it’s the handsome man with the striking blue eyes. He puts the gun down on top of the drawer next to him, holds his hands up in surrender, and tries to talk her down._

_“Sara, please, it’s not what it’s looking like. I’m undercover, and there’s a man outside, waiting for me to do the job. If he doesn’t see gunfire or hear gunshots in the near future, he will come in and finish us both off.”_

_“Why should I believe you, Caffrey!?”_

Sara jerked awake. So she really knew the man. Was he a criminal? Before she could think more about it, sleep once again claimed her wholly.

_She’s back in the room, which apparently belongs to her apartment. Her gun is still trained on “Caffrey,” who is rooted to the spot, his whole body language pleading to her to do the right thing – preferably without shooting him. Suddenly, the phone on her night desk begins to ring. “Caffrey” urges her to answer, and as she does, Agent Burke is on the other end of the line, telling her that Neal really is undercover, and that what they first assumed to be a courier for the bonds is actually a hired hand, assigned to kill her for digging around in Halbridge’s past._

Once again, Sara jerked awake, but this time, her brain was more alert than the first time. Just like the other day, the dream had opened another gate in her brain. She saw Neal in the courtroom, watching her intensely as she was in the witness stand; she saw glimpses of the two of them sitting in a library-like room, going through old documents and pictures; she saw them on a shopping spree, spending a small fortune in various shops all around New York. The last batch of mental images were of her watching a warehouse through a camera on a computer, filled to the brim with paintings, jewelry, statues and other art-related things. Sara felt that her old self was shocked to see it, apparently she didn’t expect it. Last but not least she saw herself leaving the apartment (which she assumed was Neal’s) after giving him one last kiss and pleading him to be careful.

“Sara? Are you okay?”

Sara looked up to see the slightly worried face of Nurse Jody.

“Yes, I am. Do you know by chance if Agent Burke is still here? I know that he left before the shooting, but maybe…”

“Yeah, Sara, he is here. I see if I can get him to you.”

“Please do, and tell him that I somehow have opened another gate in my brain. I know who the handsome man is.”

Jody’s eyes widened, and she hurried out of the room, in the general direction of the Intensive Care Unit. Head Nurse Meredith had told her that Peter was on his way to interrogate the assailant.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the same moment, Peter finally made it to the room of the shooter. He had a short talk to Jones, who assured him that he was fine and that the wound wasn’t as bad as it might look. Dr. Browning was standing in the doorway to the other room, waiting for Peter, a serious, non-nonsense expression on her face. Though she was quite smaller than Peter, she managed to block the entry effectively.

“Agent Burke, I have to warn you. He’s still in critical condition, so I only allow you to ask him a few questions.”

“Dr. Browning, I only have one question for this man”, Peter motioned to the man lying in the bed.

Dr. Browning seemed to be convinced, and after a few seconds of hesitation, she stepped aside and gave Peter a silent “okay” to enter the room.

As if on cue, the man in the bed turned his head around as soon as Peter entered the room. A small action, especially for a patient in a hospital and in critical condition, and yet it caused Peter to stop dead in his tracks.

“Deckard? John Deckard, US Marshals?”

“Burke.” Deckard let out a chuckle. “Of course, your CI is causing trouble, and you go and play a pain in the ass on a wounded man.” He paused and took a breath. “And for your information, I’m no longer with the Marshals.”

Peter felt his blood boiling. How dare this man to insult Neal, who was ten times a better man than Deckard. In different circumstances, he probably would have attacked the man, but he didn’t want to be pulled from the case for not keeping his cool. Instead, he opted for closing the distance to the bed.

“And yet you showed your badge at the reception desk.” Peter leaned in closer. “You tried to shoot a witness, wounded an agent and several other people. But that’s peanuts in my eyes.” For the first time since entering the room, Peter saw something akin to fear on Deckard’s face. “They will get you for all of that, but most of all for kidnapping an FBI consultant.”

Deckard took a deep breath, and Peter was glad to see that the fear still was evident on his face.

“If… If I tell you everything, will you make a deal for me?”

Peter laughed out. Could Deckard really be so stupid to believe that Peter does deals with just everyone?

“Me?” Peter pointed at himself. “Making a deal for you?” He paused and let the smile spread on his face. “No, Deckard, mostly because you’re not worth a deal, but also because I simply can’t stand you.” Peter finally sat down on the plastic chair standing next to the bed.

“But you made a deal with Caffrey!”

“You actually compare your situation with Neal’s? You have chutzpa, that I have to admit. But let me tell you something about Neal. He’s a way better man than you will ever be. And his situation was completely different. He deserved a second chance, he still does – which you don’t.” Peter got up again and leaned close into Deckard’s face. “For all I care, you can die in here. I only need to know: where do they keep Neal captured?”

For some long seconds, Peter and Deckard just stared at each other, before Deckard turned around in the bed, effectively ending the conversation.

Sensing that he wouldn’t get out of Deckard, Peter left the room and pulled out his mobile. Within seconds, Diana picked up.

“Diana, we need a full activity check on former U.S. Marshal John Deckard.”

“Deckard? Boss, are we talking about the same guy we arrested in the Franklin case?”

“Exactly the same. He was the one who tried to assassinate Sara. And I’m dead sure he is working with the kidnapper."

“I’m on it.”

Before Peter could say anything else, Diana hung up, and Peter didn’t need a lot of imagination to see her ordering some of the other agents to get the checks running while informing Hughes about this new turn of events at the same time.

“Agent Burke?”

Peter whipped his head around and saw Nurse Jody standing a few feet away from him. Her whole body language told him that she was somewhat excited about something.

“Jody, right?” She nodded. “Something wrong?”

“No, not at all. Sara wants to see you. I don’t know what really has happened, but she told me that she knows who the handsome man with the blue eyes is now.”

Peter didn’t need to hear more. With Jody hot on his heels, he all but ran back all the way through the hospital to Sara’s new room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Unknown Location_

While working on yet another forgery, Neal realized that time was a fleeting concept. Soon after the initial kidnapping, they took his watch and since then, he had trouble to keep track of time. Sure, he had some hints from the way the sunrays fell into his “prison”, but other than that, he drew a blank. Neal knew that he was here for quite some time now, but only for the way his unwashed hair stuck up in all directions. He still had hope for Peter to find him, preferably any time soon, but with every new day, this hope seemed to simmer down a fraction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Trinity Hospital_

_Sara’s room_

Peter couldn’t quite keep the smile from his face. The woman in front of him more and more became the Sara he used to know. Her eyes gradually got their light, their fire back, and her whole body language finally changed from a dejected, lost one to a ready-to-tackle-on-the world one. If there was ever any bit of doubt that she wouldn’t make a full recovery, that grain was out of the window by now.

“Sara, Nurse Jody told me you know who the handsome man is?”

“Yeah, Peter, I do.” She locked her gaze with him. “His name is Neal Caffrey. He and I have quite a rocky relationship, right?”

“Yes, you have, Sara, but we will get to all details one at a time.”

To his surprise, Sara only nodded. She had made great process since waking up, but there was still a long and possible tricky road ahead of her.

“Tell me something, Peter – is Neal in danger?”

“What makes you think so?”

“Before I woke up, I saw him sitting in a quite dark, dirty room. And he absolutely wasn’t happy to be there. I saw two other silhouettes, but I couldn’t make out any faces. I can’t put the pieces together, yet, but I’m sure that Neal’s time is running out on him.”

Peter was stunned. Sure, he knew for some time now that Sara was yet another remarkable woman in both his and Neal’s life, but now she managed to surprise him.

“Yeah, Sara, Neal is in trouble. Big trouble even.” Peter took a deep breath. “The two of you were kidnapped ten days ago. Then they dumped you in an alley near the hospital, beaten and drugged. You were taken here, and after three days in a medically-induced coma, you woke up with complete amnesia.”

Though she could remember waking up and knowing nothing, not even the tiniest bit about herself, Sara couldn’t help but gasp. Who on Earth would want to hurt Neal and her so badly?

“Peter, the man who claimed to be with the Marshals, is he also linked to the case?”

She hoped that Peter would deny it, but this hope was very short-lived when she saw him nodding.

“Yeah, and my team already had the ʻhonorʼ to arrest this guy once in the past.”

“So what does that mean?”

“I honestly don’t know, but I think that you were just collateral damage, so to speak. Neal was the target, and you just happened to be there.”

For several minutes, the room was shrouded in silence, while Sara tried to comprehend all this new information and maybe access some more memories about her and Neal’s common past.

“Peter, one more thing: are Neal and I in love?”

She was a bit surprised to see a slight blush making its way up Peter’s neck. Apparently, this was a sensitive topic for him.

“You were together for some time. That’s as much as I know. For all his outgoing personality, Neal can be pretty reserved when it comes to his personal life.”

“But you and he are friends?”

“Yes, yes, we are. Though we had a rough patch recently, mostly due to the fact that I forgot to follow my gut and trust him instead of other people who doesn’t know him as good as I do.”

“Peter, you will find Neal, and you will get the chance to right any wrong you did in the past, of that I’m sure,” Sara said while she grabbed his hand and looked him right in the eye.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Unknown Location_

Within the last few minutes or so, his two kidnappers became more and more agitated. Neal guessed that something bigger was about to start and that their plan was somewhat thwarted by their accomplice failing in killing Sara. A failing for which he was so grateful. Getting somehow back to her, back to the woman he was in love with, the woman he could picture having a future with was what kept him going, despite the nagging voice in his head that told him otherwise.

“Hey, Caffrey!”

The taller one of the kidnappers was standing next to him, and Neal cursed himself inwardly for not paying attention to them.

“Yeah, what do you need now? Another forgery?”

“No, they were just for keeping you busy,” the man said, but Neal could read between the lines. All these forgeries were also made to incriminate him further, even if they would kill him. If any agent would find them, they had solid proof that Neal Caffrey couldn’t change, that the criminal life was rooted so deep inside of him that him being dead was the best for all parties involved.

The man pulled him up and out of the room, causing Neal to stumble after him. For the first time in all these days, Neal was brought to the outside of his prison, and finally, he could pinpoint the sound he heard almost every night – a foghorn from one of the big container ships in the New York Harbor.

The two men finally made it down to the riverbank beneath the warehouse, and Neal could feel dread creeping up his spine. Usually, being pulled out of your prison cell and down to a riverbank never meant any good.

“Hey, what the heck are you doing?”

Kidnapper #2, the one Neal labeled ʻBryanʼ in his mind, approached them, and once again, they apparently were back to their ʻgood kidnapper, bad kidnapperʼ routine.

“What does it look like to you?”

“Why do you want to kill him and why now?”

The man in his back uttered a groan, and despite all that had happened previously, Neal somehow could relate to him. This wasn’t the first time that Bryan acted like a little child, and in any case, Neal would have dubbed the whole thing “How To Be A Criminal 101”.

“With Burke on the case, and John’s failure, he’s becoming a risk. And I’m not going back to Rikers.”

Neal felt the gun pressing into the bottom of his head, and with a final look on ʻhisʼ city, he closed his eyes. Only heartbeats later, a single gunshot echoed through the air.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Coming soon: The team finally connects the dots, but what happened to Neal on the riverbank?_


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team, with assistance, finally connects the dots about the kidnappers, and Neal gets unexpected help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, here's the next chapter. Note: The Assistant Medical Examiner is built after Tru Davies (from "Tru Calling"), and the name of the pub owner is a combination from two "Angel" characters, Francis Allen Doyle and Lindsey McDonald.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_FBI Building_

_White Collar offices_

After talking to Sara some more and grabbing a bit to eat, Peter finally made it back to the office almost an hour later. Exiting the elevator, he saw Reese Hughes standing with Diana and Bancroft, all of them wearing a somber expression. Within a heartbeat, the positive mindset he had upon leaving the hospital was gone from Peter’s brain, replaced by a mix of worry and fear.

“Peter, good thing you’re here.”

Peter nodded at Bancroft before turning to Hughes. “Reese, what’s going on?”

“Agent Burke, they just fished a body matching Caffrey’s description from the Hudson.” Bancroft’s voice was void of emotions, but Peter felt that the agent from Washington had to put up a fight to keep it that way. Peter himself flopped down in a chair nearby, his legs suddenly not able to keep him upright.

“Are they sure it’s him?”

“No, Peter, and the M.E. said that the man died approximately an hour or so earlier”, Hughes added.

“I want to see him.”

“Peter, I…”

Peter got up again, anger and grief fueling his energy.

“I don’t care if it’s a good idea or not, but I need to see him with my own eyes. Don’t deny me this kind of closure, Reese.”

“I accompany you, Boss,” Diana added, her voice calm in order to placate both of her bosses.

“Alright.” Hughes nodded at Peter, and his stoic face expression softened to a degree. “I know you and Caffrey were friends. Go, Peter.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_New York Harbor_

_several minutes earlier_

From his hiding spot, Neal watched the flurry of FBI agents, NYPD officers and CSU personnel working around Bryan’s body. Now that he wasn’t wearing the mask anymore, Neal could see that he and his cohort had apparently taken precautions for this case. While he remembered Bryan to have a light hair color, the man lying on the floor had almost Neal’s color. And he would win any bet that his now dead kidnapper was also wearing tinted contacts to match Neal’s eye color, as well as some plastic surgeries.

Finally, they put the body in a body bag and the Coroner left with it. Feeling suddenly very tired, Neal slid down the wall of yet another warehouse. A big part of him was for getting up again and walking over to the good guys. But he also knew that Bryan’s partner in crime was still at large and in the area, so endangering other people was the last thing Neal wanted. He already had done too much damage since he started working for Peter, their high solving rate be damned.

Watching the police cruisers leaving the scene, Neal leaned back on the wall and gave in to the tiredness in his body, but not before sending a last prayer up to the skies to give Peter a hint.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_City Morgue_

Upon entering the building halfway across Manhattan with Diana, Peter felt dread creeping up on him. In his line of work, it wasn’t the first time he had to be here. But in all the other cases, it wasn’t about a friend. Part of his brain already tried to come up with a proper way to give the sad news to Mozzie, June and El, though Peter wasn’t sure if there even was one.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw Diana talking to the Assistant Medical Examiner, a petite, young woman with long brown hair. In front of him, the Chief Medical Examiner was busy preparing the body for them to identify, oblivious to their connection and what seeing their friend, their colleague lying motionless on the cold steel slab would do to them, to their heart, to their soul.

“You ready, Agents?”

The soft voice of the AME brought Peter out of his reverie, and he just nodded, not sure if his voice wouldn’t break. The woman turned around and nodded to the ME, signaling him to reveal the body.

The ME did, and within seconds, both Peter and Diana were going through a multitude of emotions. Anticipation, the onset of grief, and last but not least, surprise. While Peter was still reeling from the scene in front of him, Diana was able to turn her surprise in words.

“Whoever this is, it’s definitely not Caffrey.”

“You sure?” the AME questioned, her face a mixture of surprise, confusion and sympathy. It wouldn’t be the first time in her career that the bereaved, regardless of their relation to the deceased, would refuse to believe that their friend, colleague, partner really was lying there behind the window.

“Absolutely.” Again, Diana was the one to speak, while Peter just stared ahead at the body on the stainless steel table. Somehow, he knew that he had seen that face before, but try as he might, he couldn’t place it for the life of him.

“Agent…”

“…Berrigan.”

“Agent Berrigan, take a look again.”

Diana felt that the woman was just doing her job, so she tried to be as calm as possible.

“Listen, I know you’re just doing your job, and in any other case, I wouldn’t argue. But believe me when I say that this body in there,” Diana pointed to the window for emphasis, “isn’t what everyone wants to believe.”

“I understand. It’s just that we found this,” the AME pulled an evidence bag out of one of the pockets on her coat, “on the body.”

She handed the bag over to Diana, and for the first time since coming in here, Peter turned away from the window and looked at the content. It was a driving license for New York, and it was Neal’s. Peter wasn’t sure if Neal even had one, at least with his real name, but he couldn’t care less if it was real or fake at the moment.

“That could have been placed”, Peter said with an emotionless voice while handing the bag back to the woman.

“Why? If the body really isn’t”, the AME looked at the license, “Neal Caffrey, why does someone wants you to believe he is dead?”

Diana and Peter shared a look.

“His kidnappers”, Diana answered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Mozzie’s safe house_

The mood inside the spacious loft was part anticipation, part worry. Ever since Peter ordered him to take up residence here, Mozzie had managed to get June and Bugsy over to his place as well. Right now, Satchmo and Bugsy were playing on the carpet, while Elizabeth and June exchanged stories and enjoyed a cup of tea. Nearby, Sally was working furiously on a computer, trying to get as much information on the manipulated anklet data as possible. Carrying a tablet with two more cups of tea, Mozzie came up to her.

“And? Any luck?”

“Yes and no.” Mozzie gave her a quizzical look. “I mean, I got back to the point where I got the first time, but not any further.” She looked up at him, and Mozzie understood that she needed his help. He sat down at the keyboard next to hers, his fingers already hovering over the keys.

“What do you need?”

“I need you to create a diversion.” Mozzie started to type. “As soon as you have alerted them, I might get a chance to get in and retrieve the data I need.”

The next few minutes were silent, except for the almost synchronized clapping of the keys.

“Yes!!” Sally exclaimed, causing not only June and Elizabeth, but also Satchmo and Bugsy to look up at her. Seeing the surprised faces, Sally couldn’t help but blush lightly.

“Sorry, but this was definitely the most complicated hack I have ever done.” She suddenly remembered the profession of Elizabeth’s husband. “That’s something your husband doesn’t have to know, okay?” she said, fixing El in her seat with a look.

“Of course.” El got up and came over to the table. “Sally, as long as we get Neal back to us, I’m sure Peter is okay with almost everything.” She looked at the screen, but all she could see were columns of numbers. “So, were the data really tinkered with?”

“Yeah, absolutely.” Sally scanned the numbers. “And if I read that right, they did it from an office in…,” she paused, trying to understand the location, “…Washington?!?”

“Washington? As in Washington D.C.?” Mozzie exclaimed, the paranoia in him already on the raise.

“Mozzie, calm down. You won’t do Neal anything good if you land yourself in the hospital with a cardiac arrest,” El said while retrieving her phone from her bag. “Peter needs to know about that, asap.”

But before she could even pull up his number, Peter was calling her.

“Hey, Hon.”

“Hey.”

Elizabeth immediately noticed the slightly defeated edge to his voice, but she blamed it on the case.

“Hey, everything’s alright? You sound tired.”

She moved a bit away from the others, trying to create something along the lines of privacy.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Now. And yes, I’m more than a bit tired.”

“What happened?”

“They found a body in the Hudson, down at the Harbor.”

“Is it…?” El began.

“No, it isn’t Neal, though somebody wants us to believe it.”

“Why? And who?”

Before Peter could answer, Mozzie tipped her on the shoulder, causing El to spin around.

“We might be able to answer your second question.” He motioned to the phone. “Put Peter on speaker, please.”

“Okay.” She turned her attention back to her husband. “You heard that?”

“Yeah, and I guess that Sally somehow got to the bottom of the anklet data mystery.”

“Oh yeah, but that’s all I’m allowed to tell you.”

For the first time in some time (probably since this whole crazy case began), Peter was able to laugh out. Leave it to Mozzie (and Sally) to be afraid of repercussions for saving their common friend. Right now, he couldn't care less about their means, as long as they led them all somehow to Neal.

“Okay, hon, you’re on speaker now,” El said while putting the phone down on the table between Mozzie and Sally.

“Okay, Mozzie, Sally, I’m listening.”

“Hello, Agent Burke,” Sally began. “We finally got hold of the source of the tinkering.”

“So who did it?”

“It was done from an office in Washington D.C.,” Mozzie continued, “and as far as we have found out from here, it’s on the same level as the OPR offices.”

“Fowler,” all humans, except for Sally, said almost at the same time. The dogs on the carpet stopped their game again, looking from one human to the other in confusion.

“Well, that would explain a lot”, Peter said.

“Like what, Suit?” Mozzie inquired, the curiosity getting the better of him.

“Like the fact that his accomplices were both imprisoned at Rikers, just like himself.”

“Accomplices?” June cut in.

“Yeah, we have John Deckard, a former U.S. Marshal, in custody at Trinity, and right now, I’m standing just outside the City Morgue, where we have Bryan McKenzie, dead.”

“Deckard?” Mozzie echoed. “The corrupt Marshal from the Franklin case?” He saw the inquiring faces of the women, but he just gave them a wave. There was no time right now to take a trip down memory lane.

“Exactly the same. But don’t worry, he’s guarded heavily and he won’t get to see any daylight for the rest of his life.”

“Good to know.”

“Hon, who is Bryan McKenzie?” El asked. She knew a lot of names from Peter’s cases, but this one didn’t ring a bell.

“He was not only Sara’s former boss at Sterling Bosch, they two of them also had a personal history, from what Diana told me. It was the case she and Neal did together while we were celebrating your birthday.”

“Oh, okay.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_New York Harbor_

Francis Allen McDonald was every bit of your typical American Irish. And probably nobody was surprised to learn that he owned a small pub near the Harbor. It has left his heydays already far behind it, but still, night after night, a loyal crowd could be found inside the building.

Which on the other hand meant that he had to prepare the pub during the day. Opening the wooden gate leading to the beverage storage, McDonald was lost in his own thoughts, mostly on what he might get his wife Barbara for their upcoming wedding anniversary – until the sudden appearance of a pair of striking blue eyes jolted him out of his reverie.

“Holy Mary!” McDonald took a deep breath and finally got a good look at the young man in the dirty rags, leaning on one of the big Guinness barrels as if it was the only thing to keep him upright.

“So… sorry… didn’t mean to scare you,” the young man stuttered out, pulling his whole body ever so slowly behind the barrel, as if to create a physical barrier between him and McDonald.

“You didn’t, son. I was just lost in my own world, you know?” McDonald took a step toward the man, which caused his guest to visibly flinch. What on God’s green Earth had happened to this stranger?

“Son, can I help you somehow?”

The younger man blinked, as if he didn’t understand a word McDonald was saying. McDonald on the other hand took the time his guest was contemplating the offer to give him a onceover. The dirty rags resembled, with just some imagination, a pair of jeans, a shirt and a jacket, but somehow, the stranger was without some shoes.

“Could… could I get just a glass of water?” the young man said all of a sudden.

“Of course, son. Come, let’s get you inside. It’s probably a bit warmer as well.”

The young man hesitated for a second before slowly following McDonald over to the back door of his pub.

Once inside, McDonald led the stranger over to the nearest booth, where the young man all but collapsed, his whole body going limp like a ragdoll. After making sure that his impromptu guest didn’t fall from the bench, McDonald went over to the bar to grab not only a bottle of water, but also a bit to eat for the stranger.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_White Collar offices_

Within seconds after Diana’s call about the mistaken identity of the body, the spirits of all agents were lifted. They all would have closed the case nonetheless, but now, knowing that Neal might still be alive, gave them all a new surge of energy and hope.

When Peter and Diana came back, Jones, Bancroft and Hughes were up in the conference room, going over the information they got from the NYPD regarding the location of the body. Diana joined them immediately, while Peter went into his own office, intent on printing out the information Sally had retrieved.

While waiting for his printer to finish the job, Peter did some thinking. Why was Fowler attacking Neal right now? And how many others were involved in the case? He looked up, out to the bullpen and the many agents in the unit. Did they have a mole in here? Was one of the higher-ups, both here in New York and down in Washington, involved? Shaking his head, Peter refocused his attention on the job at hand – bringing Neal home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Coming soon: Neal is finally reunited with the team – and with Sara._


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neal is finally reunited with the gang and Sara.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for keeping you waiting for this second to last chapter (I will post the conclusion, along with a short epilogue, right after this one). WCBB has taken over my mind, but I finally got enough grey matter back under my control to finish this one here. Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_New York Harbor_

_McDonald’s pub_

In all his years of existence on this Earth, Allen McDonald never ever had seen something even closely to the sight in front of his eyes right now. The young man wolfed down the simple meal, consisting of two slices of bread, a bit of cheese and some pieces of sausage, which McDonald had put together for him. The bottle of water already was gone, and he already was way into the second.

“So, son, what happened to you?”

Ever since finding him in the storage, McDonald tried to keep his voice calm and even. The last thing he needed was that the young man got frightened and hightailed it out of here to God knows where.

Neal looked up, eyeing the older man with just a hint of suspicion.

“Bad days.”

Not sure if this wasn’t just another trick his second kidnapper played on him, Neal tried to keep to himself as much as possible.

“Oh, that I can see.” McDonald made a gesture, indicating the torn clothes still hanging on Neal’s lean frame. “What I want to know is what led to that?”

“As I said, bad days.”

The last days in captivity made Neal even more suspicious than ever before. And somewhere in the back of his mind, a voice reminded him of Mozzie and his paranoia. Which in turn gave Neal an idea.

“Sir, you don’t have phone around here?”

McDonald gave a light chuckle, causing Neal’s eyebrows to rise.

“Of course I have a phone around here, silly.” He retrieved his mobile from a pocket and slid it over to Neal. “On one condition – what’s your name?”

Neal only hesitated for a second before grabbing the phone.

“Neal, Neal Caffrey.”

“Nice to meet you, Neal.” McDonald got up from his seat opposite Neal. “While you call whoever you need to call, I go and see if there’s anything left from my son we could get you in, okay?”

Neal only nodded, his mind already occupied by the decision on who to call. He more felt than saw McDonald leave and finally pushed the buttons for a familiar number.

When the person answered after the second ring, it was already like coming home for Neal.

“Hey, June.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_FBI Building_

_White Collar offices_

From the moment Peter presented the data about the manipulation on Neal’s anklet to Hughes, Bancroft and Roe, the number of agents actually working this particular case was thinned out, until only Peter, Diana, Jones (who was back from the hospital), Wesley and Blake were remaining. Even though they decided it was just a precautionary measure, they couldn’t take the risk, not now.

After clearing that, Jones and Blake went to dig around in Fowler’s recent history, including his escape from Rikers and whatever he was up to afterwards. Diana, Bancroft and Wesley worked the Washington angle, with Roe providing any kind of assistance. Peter and Hughes went over the facts they already knew, trying to put the pieces of this crazy puzzle together.

Right now, Hughes was talking to his secretary to get them all some food, while Peter went through the NYPD reports about McKenzie’s body and its location, when a thought struck him. Grabbing the file, he hurried down the stairs, almost skidding to a stop at Jones’ desk.

“Jones!” The man, along with any agent in the vicinity, raised his head. “We have access to some satellites, right?”

“Yeah, Agent Roe gave us the possibility.” Clinton’s face changed from confusion to understanding. “You want me to check a certain area?”

“Yeah, New York Harbor, around the place where and the time when they found the body.” Jones began to type, and soon, they were looking at the Harbor area.

Agent Roe joined them, as well as Hughes, Diana and Blake.

“What do you think you will find with these images, Peter?” Hughes inquired, probably voicing the thoughts of all around.

“I just read the preliminary ME report on the body.” Peter held the report up. “He states that the body wasn’t in the water for long. So I think that they were close by. And I also think that we’re looking at the area where they keep, or kept, Neal captive all the time.”

“Agent Jones, there’s a possibility to add a thermal layer to the images,” Agent Roe told them, giving Clinton a piece of paper with some commands. Clinton typed them in, and only heartbeats later, the screen turned into an almost blue image – except for the gathering of the FBI, NYPD and CSU personnel in one corner.

“Can you zoom in on them?” Peter asked.

Jones did, and while the others were focused on their colleagues, Peter’s eyes inched down towards the bottom of the screen.

“What’s that?” He pointed to another yellow-red dot, a short distance away from the others.

“Somebody’s watching them,” Diana added.

“But who? Neal or Fowler?” Peter asked. They watched as this single point turned back from looking around the corner and somewhat slumped together.

“That’s Neal, I’m sure.”

Peter felt joy slowly spreading in his chest. Were they really this close to finally bringing him home to them? Without waiting for anyone to follow, Peter hurried out of the office, his mind already working on a plan to get them to the Harbor as quick as possible.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Mozzie’s safe house_

After delivering the news to Peter, all occupants were reduced to waiting. There was nothing they could do at the moment, except for praying for a small miracle. And so, it was more than understandable that they all almost jumped when all of a sudden June’s phone started to ring. She pulled it out of her bag, frowning when she couldn’t place the number flashing on the display.

“Hello?”

“Hello, June.”

“Neal!!” All the others huddled around her, trying to hear Neal’s voice with their own ears. Even Bugsy and Satchmo inched closer, sensing who might be on the other end of the line.

“Neal, wait a moment, I put you on speaker, okay?” Though her hands were slightly shaking from the joy she was experiencing, June managed the task pretty fast.

“Neal, honey, where are you?”

“Elizabeth, it’s so good to hear your voice. If I tell you, can you give the information to Peter asap? My second kidnapper is still at large around here, and I don’t want to run into him alone.”

“Of course, Neal.” Elizabeth swallowed thickly, tears of joy already threatening to spill out of her eyes.

“Neal, Sally and I try to make a conference call to Peter, so just stay on the line.”

“Moz! Looks like I miss kind of a party.”

Neal’s little joke had the effect he was aiming for – eliciting a chuckle from everyone, him included.

“Yeah, and as soon as we got you back, you will get your own,” Elizabeth promised.

“El, do you know anything about Sara? How’s she’s doing?”

“She’s pretty fine, as far as I know, but to be honest, I haven’t seen a lot of my husband, or any of the team for that matter, since the beginning of your case.”

Elizabeth tried to keep her voice even, and if a lie would do the job, well, so be it. It wasn’t a complete lie after all.

“Ok, Neal, we have Peter here,” Mozzie said.

“Mozzie, what’s so important that it couldn’t wait until later?”

“What about me, Peter?” Neal spoke into the silence.

“NEAL!!!” They all heard tires squealing, and for a heartbeat, they all held their breath. Finally, Peter spoke up again.

“Next time a little warning, Mozzie.” They heard him breathing out deeply. “I almost have caused a collision.”

“Well, good thing you didn’t, hon.”

“Yeah.” Again, silence came from Peter’s side, and they all, including Neal, knew that he was trying to reign in his emotions. “Okay, Neal, where are you?”

“In a pub near the Harbor. But Peter, please do me a favor and be extra careful. My second kidnapper is still somewhere around here, and I don’t need you or any of the team getting hurt because of me.”

“Caffrey, nice of you to care for us, but getting hurt is pretty much part of the job description,” Diana piped up. “Stay put, we’re en route to you.”

“You heard that, Neal?” Peter inquired, a tinge of humor to his voice.

“Yeah, I did, Peter, and this makes it the third time you caught me.”

Both men hung up, and the inhabitants of the safe house started to celebrate by hugging each other, including the two dogs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Trinity Hospital_

_Sara’s room_

The minute she saw the wide smile on Penelope’s face as she entered the room, Sara knew that finally something good was happening. With curiosity reaching new peaks inside of her, she barely waited till the other woman sat down next to her bed before firing her first question.

“Any news, Penelope?”

Pen looked up from her phone, the smile on her face spreading even further.

“Oh yeah, gumdrop.” If she saw the raised eyebrow on Sara’s face upon hearing yet another new nickname, she didn’t show. “But you have to wait a little bit longer for me to share them with you.”

“They have found Neal, right?”

“Wow, Clint didn’t exaggerate when he told me about your inquisitive character.” Pen slightly rolled her eyes. “Just a little bit longer, Sara, okay?” She got up again, heading over to the small stereo system Clint had set up for them, inserting another of her yoga CDs. “You know what, Sara?” She turned around. “We could kill some time with doing some super-easy Yoga exercises. What do you say?”

Sara couldn’t help but smile at the other woman. Agent Clinton Jones not only had a brilliant brain, he also seemed to have a good taste in choosing his friends.

“Yeah, though I have to warn you. I really can’t remember ever having done that,” Sara said with a smile while she got out of her bed.

“Ah, don’t worry. I myself just got started with that, so we have to go with what the lady on the CD instructs us to do.”

And so, the two women settled on the floor, listening to the instructions coming from the speakers and made their first real foray into the realms of Yoga.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_New York Harbor_

By the time he finally reached the small pub, Garrett Fowler was furious. They had come so far in their game of revenge against Peter, Neal and the rest of the FBI here in New York, only to have a string of failures where he didn’t need them. First, John Deckard failed in killing Sara. Then, Bryan tried to complicate everything, and he had to kill him. And last but not least, Neal managed somehow to get away from him while he had to deposit Bryan’s body in the river. But, and that was a big but in Fowler’s book, Neal was weakened from the captivity, meaning that he couldn’t have gotten too far from the Harbor.

Sneaking around the house, Fowler peered inside through the windows, trying to spot the man he held personally responsible for his life going down the drain. If Neal just would have cooperated when Kate had asked him about the music box, she and Adler still would be alive, Larssen would still do his job – and most important, he himself would still have his corner office down in Washington.

“Looking for something?”

Fowler spun around – only to be met by the barrel of a hunting rifle. Holding the rifle was an old man, causing Fowler to not see him as a threat.

“Yeah, sorry to bother you, but have you seen a man coming down here? About 5’11’’, dark brown hair, blue eyes?”

“Nah, you’re the only one I’ve seen this fine morning,” Allen McDonald answered, his grey-green eyes fixed on this stranger. His gut told him that this fine specimen of a scumbag was somehow responsible for whatever happened to his young guest.

“You sure?” Fowler insisted, and McDonald could hear a bit of frustration in his voice.

“Yeah, I’m dead sure.” McDonald took a step back, his rifle still trained on Fowler. “I might be older than you, but I’m not blind nor deaf nor dumb.” He cocked the rifle. “And I suggest you better get lost, before I shoot you.”

As if on cue, several police cruisers and FBI-issued cars surrounded Fowler, making it impossible for him to escape.

“Fowler!” Peter’s voice carried over from his car. “Put the damn gun down!”

Only now Fowler noticed that he was pointing at the old man with his gun.

“He,” he waved in McDonald’s direction, “he came up to me with his rifle drawn. I’m just trying to protect myself, Burke.”

“Protect me, my ass,” Hughes said from his position near an SUV. “Garrett, you better do what Agent Burke has asked you to, or I will shoot you myself, just to get you out of my way.”

Hearing the coldness in Hughes’ voice made Fowler think twice about his next actions, but instead of being reasonable for a change and putting the gun down, as everyone expected him to do, he raised it – and finished himself off by putting a bullet into his brain.

Peter put his own gun back into the holster and went over to McDonald.

“Mister…”

“McDonald, Allen McDonald. At your service, sir.”

Peter had to chuckle. Apparently, Neal really had a knack for finding the right people in the worst situations.

“You’re looking for your boy, right?”

Peter almost did a double take. What on Earth had Neal told the man about them?

“Yeah, and I take it he’s here.”

“Yep, he’s here.” The sudden appearance of this new voice had almost everyone turning around, towards the main entrance of the pub.

Standing there in the doorway, in an outfit they all weren’t exactly used to see on him, and leaning heavily on the doorframe, was Neal, his trademark smile firm in place upon seeing the team.

Before Neal could even think about making a step towards them, Peter was in front of him, engulfing him in a bear hug, expressing his joy, his happiness through this action. Somewhat gingerly, Neal returned the hug, and if they both shed some tears, none of the others would ever say a word.

Finally, Peter pulled back, holding Neal at arm’s length and letting his gaze sweep over his friend’s body. Apart from some rather serious weight loss and deep circles under his eyes, Neal seemed to be okay, but he would make sure that he got checked out in a hospital.

“Hey, Caffrey,” Jones said as he and Diana came up to them. “Do us and yourself a favor and don’t get kidnapped again, okay?”

“I’ll try my best, Agent Jones,” Neal replied, and Peter was glad to see the familiar twinkle returning to his CI’s eyes.

“Just kidding,” Jones said back with a smile before engulfing Neal in another hug, and when he pulled back, Diana did the same. Without saying another word, the two ʻDemi-Suitsʼ headed back to where some FBI agents were securing both Fowler’s body and his gun.

“So, Neal, what do you say? Should we head to a hospital and get you checked out?”

“Yeah, and afterwards, please get me anything to eat.” Neal made a tentative first step away from the doorway, and only then Peter saw the full extension of his weight loss. Reaching out, Peter grabbed Neal’s elbow, but instead of shaking him off, Neal slung his arm around Peter’s back, leaning on the taller man that way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Trinity Hospital_

Several long minutes later, Peter pulled into the parking lot of Trinity Hospital once again. But this time, his spirit was on an all-time high. Parking the car almost next to the entry, Peter jogged inside to get both Dr. Grant to the ER and a wheelchair.

Another few minutes went by, and at last, Neal was lying in a hospital bed, the baggy clothes he got from McDonald replaced by one of the usual hospital shirts and pajama pants. The hospital staff was running a whole battery of tests, and the fact that he did not even once complain about them was a clear sign to Peter that Neal was just glad that his ordeal was over.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw both his wife and Mozzie approach, but before he could say anything to them, his mobile decided to interrupt. Shrugging apologetically at Elizabeth, he made his way out to a side entrance before answering.

“Burke.”

“Peter, let me tell you one thing,” Hughes began, and Peter wasn’t sure about what to expect.

“What, Reese?”

“I’m doing this job for some time now, but I’ve never ever been so glad that we won’t have to deal with someone like Fowler again.” The older man paused, and Peter only could agree with him. It was the best for all parties involved that both Fowler and McKenzie were dead. Otherwise, if they were captured and imprisoned, Neal and Sara both would have to revisit the events in a courtroom, ripping the wounds on their souls open to a room full of strangers who didn’t know a thing about them.

“We found the room where they kept Neal hostage,” Hughes continued, bringing Peter back from his reverie. “They forced him to make a whole range of forgeries. We found passports and other documents in one of the rooms, all of them clearly marked as forgeries…”

“…as if to prove that Neal couldn’t be changed.” Peter felt his blood boiling. Why was it so hard for people to believe that Neal could change if given the right incentive?

“Yeah, but what they didn’t notice was that Caffrey marked them as well. On every single document, he inserted a small sign. To me, they don’t mean a thing, but maybe you could take a look at them, or ask Caffrey what they should mean.” Sensing that Peter was about to protest that they all should cut Neal some slack and give him time to recover and reconnect, Hughes hurried to add. “Of course after some well-deserved recuperation time.” Hughes couldn’t help but smile after hearing Peter release the breath he was apparently holding. “Truth be told, Caffrey does an excellent job around here.”

“That he does.” Peter saw Mozzie waving at him, apparently the doctor had finished the tests on Neal. “Listen, Reese, I gotta go. The doctor wants to talk to us.”

“Us?” Hughes echoed. “Oh, I take it Elizabeth is already there.”

“Yeah, she is.” Before Hughes could say anything more, Peter hung up and hurried inside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Sara’s room_

Sara and Penelope had made quite some progress in their ʻLaughing Yogaʼ exercises, when they heard the door open. Getting to her feet with Penelope’s help, Sara turned around – and was almost back on the floor in a heartbeat.

“Neal!”

As quick as possible, she crossed the short distance to the man in question, who was once again seated in a wheelchair. She hugged him gently, well aware of the aftereffects of him being held captive for quite some time. When she tried to pull back, though, Neal kept her in place, pulling her back close to him, burying his face deep in her hair, her neck.

All of a sudden, he let go of her, and before Sara or Peter could say anything, they saw his whole frame shaking, his emotions getting the better of him. Giving Neal both the time to let them out and to recover, Sara turned her attention to Peter.

“Didn’t I told you that you would find him?” she said, and the twinkle of joy in Peter’s eyes was speaking volumes.

“Yeah, you did, Sara,” Peter responded.

Any further questions were halted when suddenly the door opened again, this time letting Mozzie and Elizabeth into the room. Apparently, Neal had calmed down so far to face them again, and for the first time since he was brought into the room, Sara saw his beautiful blue eyes shining, this time with joy. Grabbing her right hand with his left, he motioned for Peter to push him over to the small table.

“Okay, Neal, I know you have probably a million things going through your head right now, but I need to know,” Elizabeth said while sitting down.

“Gentle, Hon,” Peter admonished, Dr. Grant’s warning about pushing too hard for information still on the front of his mind.

“Don’t worry, Peter, I’m not going to shatter with one single question.” Neal turned his gaze on Elizabeth. “And I think I know what’s on top of your curiosity list right now.” He winked at her, eliciting a small chuckle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Coming soon: Neal reveals the true (?) story of how he could escape, plus: a little epilogue._


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neal and Sara's lifes finally get back to normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are, at the end of this journey. And I want to take the opportunity to thank all of you for coming along. For your reviews, kudos and comments. For your patience, when computer problems put a temporary stop to the story. Thank you again, it was a blast to write this story for you, and I hope you enjoy reading this last stretch as much as I did writing it.
> 
> Note: The image at the end was edited by me, using a screencap from kanarek13's collection.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Trinity Hospital_

_Sara & Neal’s room_

“Come on, Neal, spill it,” Peter said good-naturedly upon seeing the expectant faces of Mozzie, Elizabeth, Sara AND Penelope.

“Okay, okay, okay!” Neal raised his hands in surrender. “If you all ask so nicely, who am I to deny you your wish?” He took a deep breath. “It must have been shortly after an incident here at the hospital. Fowler came in what I used to call the ʻforgeryʼ room.” He paused, turning to Peter. “The FBI crime scene units will probably find a whole bunch of forgeries in this room. As far as I can tell…”

“…they wanted to incriminate you. Even when they had killed you, the memory would be stained with the fact that we failed in keeping you on the straight and narrow.”

Neal only nodded, swallowed and continued. “Fowler was furious, even a blind man could see that. When Bryan,” he saw Sara peaking up at his mention of the name, but he chose to ignore her for the moment, “asked him what was wrong, he told him that someone named John failed in killing Sara.” He looked at her, and for the first time ever, she saw unconditional love in his eyes. “Believe me when I say I’ve been in some really bad situations, allegedly, but I never felt so helpless as in that moment.”

“You gave them the hint with dumping her in the alley, didn’t you?” Peter asked, though he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

“Yeah, I did,” Neal said while grabbing Sara’s hand again. “Was in that moment the only thing I could do, trying to get her out of the line of fire, so to speak.”

“And I’m glad you did,” Sara answered before planting a kiss on his stubbly cheek.

“So, how did you escape?” Mozzie tried to sound as neutral as possible, but apparently he did a lousy job, if the wide smiles on the faces around him were anything to go by.

“Well, the two of them got into a long, heated argument, and while I tried to keep my hands steady for the forgery I was working on, I also tried to get as much of their conversation as possible. They were talking about another partner, but apparently, this partner was a silent one.”

“Which also could mean that this silent partner was the one who did the tampering on your anklet’s data, letting us think for some days that you might have run on your own volition,” Peter explained.

“What changed your mind?” Neal asked.

“Sara. Or better the fact that Winston Bosch called me personally to report you missing,” Peter answered while looking at the woman in question.

“Wow,” was all that Sara got out. Apparently, her boss regarded her higher than she was led to believe.

“Yeah.” Peter turned back to Neal. “You were saying?”

“Ja, well, at some point, I lost track of their conversation. Then Fowler left, only to return shortly after, in the same sour mood as before. Once again, he was arguing with his cohort, but I didn’t catch anything, not one word, mostly because they were talking out in the hallway. All of a sudden, he comes back into the room, calling me with my name. I was fully prepared for him ordering yet another forgery, but after explaining that they were just means to a certain end, he pulled me up from the chair, out of the room, the building and down to the riverbank.” He made a pause, and as if on cue, mostly everyone else in the room uttered a gasp, knowing exactly what was about to happen.

“He finally pulled me to my knees, letting me have one final glance, or so I thought, at New York before pressing the muzzle of his gun into my neck.” On her own volition, one of his hands came up to rub over the skin where the gun touched him, and it took quite some willpower to suppress the shudder that crept up his spine. “Bryan joined us, asking why he, Fowler, wanted to kill me now. In hindsight, I have to say, good thing he did. So he ended up with a bullet in the head instead of me.” Neal paused again, this time to take a sip of water. “And he effectively provided me with the opportunity to get away. Fowler was busy with pulling the body down to the river, leaving me unguarded for some time.” He looked over at Peter, a wide smile spreading on his face. “And if anyone knows what happens when I’m unguarded, it would be you,” he said with a wink.

Peter only nodded, for once glad that Neal had the tendency and the talent to get him out of the craziest situations over and over again.

“So, you just got up and ran?” Penelope said, her voice a mixture of incredulity and approval.

“Yes, ma’am, I did,” Neal answered, and Peter had to suppress a chuckle at hearing the pride lacing the younger man’s voice. Only Neal could pull off things like that and be proud about it afterwards.

“And how did you end up at the pub?”

“I honestly don’t know. I was just there, trying to find a place to hide from Fowler. By the way, the clothes I had on me when I got here, they belong to the owner. Could anyone of you make sure that they get cleaned before I return them to him?”

“Consider it done, Neal,” Mozzie returned before any of the other even could consider Neal’s request.

“Thank you, Moz,” Neal gave back, the last part almost lost in a big yawn.

“Well, that’s our cue,” Penelope piped up. “Folks, I think it’s high on time that we give them both,” she put a hand on Neal’s and Sara’s shoulders each for emphasis, “some well-deserved rest.”

As if on cue, Neal yawned again before slumping slightly in his wheelchair. Taking the hint, Peter herded Elizabeth and Mozzie out in the hallway before coming back and helping Neal settling into the second bed.

“Sara, if anything should happen, just have the nurses call me, no matter what time it is, okay?” Peter said.

“Will do, Peter, and thank you for bringing him back to me.”

“You’re welcome, Sara, but truth be told…”

“…it’s his job to catch me, again and again and again,” Neal suddenly said sleepily, causing both Peter and Sara to chuckle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Epilogue

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Two weeks later_

After staying in the hospital for a couple more days, Neal and Sara were finally released and handed over to June and her staff to help them recover completely. They spent most of their days lounging on the terrace, enjoying the warm weather.

Peter, Elizabeth and Mozzie were alternating in visiting them, mostly to keep them both in the loop of what was going on outside the mansion. The only time they talked about their kidnapping was when Peter informed them that they finally had found the silent partner that Neal had heard them talking about. It was Fowler’s former second in command at the OPR, and he would face a long time behind bars for participating in the crime.

But after some time, Sara noticed some kind of restlessness in Neal. Knowing that it wasn’t connected to her being here constantly in any way, she had a hunch about its true origin.

When they came back from one of their check-up appointments at the hospital, Peter was already waiting for them, a small stash of files in front of him. As expected, Neal’s eyes lit up at the prospect of working with the team again, and together, they spent the afternoon going through the cases.

After another couple of days, Neal decided to go back to working at the office, if only for half a day for the time being. Sara also made the first steps back into her work at Sterling Bosch, and if the way she was welcomed back at the office was anything to go by, her co-workers had missed her a lot.

Shortly before she was finishing her first day back, Sara got a call from Neal, telling her to meet him at the World Fair’s monument at five in the afternoon. Seeing that she had some time on her hands, she went back to her own apartment, slept a bit and took a shower, before preparing herself for the ʻdateʼ with Neal. With a last glance at the mirror next to the door, Sara left her apartment – only to run into Peter.

“Peter! What…?”

“Sorry, Sara, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Peter held his hands up for emphasis. “But Neal told me to get you.”

“How on Earth…?” she wondered, but then she saw the soft smile on Peter’s face. “Of course, he’s Neal Caffrey after all,” she said with a smile of her own.

A short time later, Peter pulled up to the curb near the monument. When she got out of the car, she was rooted to the spot. In front of her, a small table, just enough for two, was set up, already decked out for an outdoor dinner.

“Like what you see, Repo?” Neal all of sudden whispered from behind. Apparently, Sara was so enthralled by the display in front of her that she didn’t t notice him coming up to her.

“Oh yeah,” she turned around and gave Neal an appreciatively once-over, “I like it, very much.”

“Mission accomplished,” Neal replied, before pulling her close and kissing her.

[ ](http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/sandy79/26529227/34681/34681_original.jpg)


End file.
